Page 12 of Far from Destined

I vividly remembered pushing Cross off, telling him to go find Hazel. To save her. I had thought I would die that day.

Cross’s gaze moved up to meet mine, and I watched him swallow hard.

I didn’t know what else to do, so I put my hands on my hips and sighed. “I didn’t see your cars out front. And this ismyfucking home. I’m doing laundry.”

“Yeah, you are,” Paris said and then let out a yelp when Prior leaned over and bit her shoulder.

“That is my baby brother. Watch those eyes.”

“Oh, I’m watching,” Paris purred before she yelped again. I didnotwant to know what Prior did to her for her to make that sound.

“Here.” Nate tossed some sweats and a T-shirt my way. “Please put on some clothing.”

Nate’s gaze slid over to Myra for a second. I didn’t think anyone else had caught it, not even Myra. But I had. I didn’t know what was going on between them. Though, honestly, I didn’t care right then.

“Where are your cars? How the hell did you get into my home? Why are you here at all? I need to shower. I smell like urine, and I had a long fucking day.”

“Go, shower. We’ll be out here. We brought snacks.” Hazel scooted off the couch and came up to me. She looked like she might hug me. I heard Cross’s growl, and she winced. “Thank you for letting us in.”

“Ididn’tlet you in,” I grumbled. “Again. Cars. Did you guys park around the corner so I wouldn’t see you? Are you ambushing me about something?”

It wasn’t lost on me that somebody from our group wasn’t here. Was this an intervention about what Nate had seen?

I glanced over at Nate, who gave a slight shake of the head.

Okay, so this wasn’t about the fighting.

At least, not yet.

Whatwasit about? And where was Dakota?

And why was I so disappointed that she wasn’t here?

“Go, shower. Then get dressed and come back. We need to talk.”

I looked at Cross and tensed. “Talk about what? Is everything okay?”

“Maybe go cover your dick, andthenwe’ll discuss it,” Prior said, covering Paris’s eyes as she tried to peek.

That made me laugh. I moved past the others. “I’ll be quick. But if this is something I’m going to be angry about, get me a beer.”

“I’ll get you a beer, but you’re not going to be angry. You’ll probably like it,” Nate teased.

Tension filled me all over again. I quickly showered, not bothering to do anything with my hair or beard, mostly just trying to get the funk off. Then I slid into the sweats and shirt that Nate had given me earlier. They were mine, and I liked them.

I made my way out to the living room again to find everyone speaking at once. They all stopped at the same time, and I knew whatever was being said was about me.

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I took the beer from Nate’s hand and took a swig, narrowing my eyes at my little brother.

“No, it’s fine, that was for you anyway.” He went back to the kitchen and got one for himself. One ofmybeers.

“Okay. What is this about?”

“Dakota,” Myra said, and both Hazel and Paris glared at their friend. Worry slid over me, but they didn’t look too anxious so I figured she was safe. She had to be.

“Are you just going to blurt it out like that?” Paris asked.

“You’re the one who usually blurts,” Myra added. “I’m breaking the ice. Tearing off the Band-Aid. We don’t have a lot of time here.”